Countries Scramble to Trace Passengers from Virus-Stricken Cruise Ship in Santa Helena

Dutch government reports 40 passengers disembarked at Santa Helena

Countries worldwide are scrambling to trace individuals who left the cruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak before it got marooned off Cape Verde. Three people, including a Dutch couple and a German national, died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected of contracting the virus.

The whereabouts of many disembarked passengers remain unknown. One such passenger was the wife of the Dutchman who died aboard the ship on April 11. She fell ill herself and passed away before reaching the Netherlands.

Dutch airline KLM took her off a plane in Johannesburg on April 25 due to her deteriorating medical condition.

The virus found in victims has been confirmed as the Andean strain, which can spread among humans through very close contact. Experts have stressed that contagion is rare but health authorities are on high alert.

The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was closely monitoring the situation with U.S. travelers on board the ship, adding that the risk to the American public was extremely low at the time.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said one French citizen had been in contact with an ill person but was not showing symptoms.

Argentina’s health ministry will carry out rodent trapping and analysis in the southern city of Ushuaia, the origin point of the cruise ship.

The MV Hondius, carrying nearly 150 people, is expected to dock in Spain’s Tenerife by Saturday. If healthy upon arrival, all non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated to their countries while 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined in a military hospital in Madrid. Three patients were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday; one was admitted to a Dutch hospital and another transferred to Germany for medical care.